I DID THIS SO YOU DON'T HAVE TO: Activities Too Advanced To Be Fun

I admit I was a little desperate. Cole needed to get off the iPad and I needed to not be ordered to call play-by-play of his game like Bob Costas covering the Olympics.

There had to be a fun way to indulge this obsession that was at the very least, different. I got locked into the idea that papercraft was the way to go, so much so that I made a special pinboard just for papercraft because I couldn’t fathom an easier way to get crafty right away.

I wasn’t going too crazy ambitious, choosing the very easiest style I could find. Cole was excited when he saw Darth Maul and Aayla Secura, so much so that he demanded I make it.

No, he didn’t want to use the scissors. “You do it.” Fair enough, that’s a lot of cutting. I thought maybe he would do some basic broad-strokes separating, but no.

Then I rediscovered the thing about cutting things with scissors. It takes forever. I could only do it in the minutes allowed me during Stella naps. Try cutting somewhat complicated pieces out with an 11 month old climbing all over you trying to teach herself how to walk.

If you are wondering if you can continue to scroll further to find the after shots of these masterpieces, WONDER NO FURTHER! They sit unfinished on a table. Such is my ADHD and the memory of a toddler.

The papercraft Star Wars figures were too complicated for his 3 year old, which meant he had complicated hi… https://t.co/z4a0tY3gsA

Cheap these may not be. That might be like, $4 in black printer ink. Blarg.

NERF IS FOR ???

During our supply run, I noticed a Nerf gun that I had been eyeing up for Cole before Christmas, but waited too long to get (the local megashop was all out the week before). Part of getting Cole to agree to come on the trip was the promise of a toy, so I jumped on this one.

So yeah, maybe we should have the conversation about “war toys” at some point, but for now let’s continue my reasoning: Before now, when Cole wanted a suction-type gun we would indulge with dollar store cheap things that would break immediately and shatter his poor toddler-heart. I thought it would be great to find him something that wouldn’t break quickly, and this seemed like a good fit. He was psyched to get it, and when I got home, I demo’d the thing. As it turns out, nerf not only makes sturdy guns, bu POWERFUL GUNS THAT HURT ADULTS. No video here. Imagine me saying “OW”.

So now Cole won’t shoot it at all, which is for the best, I suppose, except now he demands that I be a Bounty Hunter so he can be Mace Windu and that I shoot at him and I’ve nearly put his eye out already. This nerf power explains an Instagram post I made WAY early into our stay here where I wondered why the heck Nerf guns were clearly marketed to older teens/young men. I guess they figure kids aren’t a good market, they need to conquer the cubicles of advertising agencies.

NOTE FOR THE FUTURE: It’s okay to pay attention to the age recommendation of a thing. It’s probably better that your children are engaged, even if it means you are a little more bored. Otherwise you might compound the amount of work you have to do that day. Or blind your child.

I am a stay-at-home dad, husband, artist and filmmaker, currently residing in Barcelona, Spain. I typically blog about my experiences as a dad, my growth as an artist and my raging Adult ADHD, but I have been known to go on tangents and get distracted by sparkly things.

Hi, I’m Drew

I'm a father of two, a husband of one. My life is a work in progress, where I create things and try very hard to be a good human. Our family travels all over the globe, and wherever we can get online becomes our office.

If you have any questions or just want to say 'sup, you can email me here.